Couple questions.
First: There is the quasi mythical bobcat/housecat cross. It is my understanding that a bobcat is at least as likely to eat my in-heat kitty as he would be fill her with bobcatty goodness. However, on the off chance he’s well-fed he might just have a go at her, the result being something that looks like a spotted housecat with a short tail. I say “quasi mythical” because there seems to be a fair bit of doubt in the interwebs about whether the encounter has any chance of a romantic conclusion, and that the odds of kitty becoming a meal are far closer to 100% and in those rare cases where she isn’t eaten, she is ignored or beaten up a bit. What’s the dope on that? Behavior aside, is there a genetic (or mechanical) reason why a bobcat and housecat, in any gender combination, couldn’t make babby? And would babby be sterile? Are there any genetically-confirmed (as opposed to, “Well, the kittens sure look a hell of a lot like bobcats.”) instances of interbreeding? And would such offspring thrive into adulthood or would they die from some kind of weird body chemistry thing (like, their bones grow to bobcat size, but their skin stays housecat size).
Second: What other felids can Felis catus spawn with, assuming the behavioral and mechanical matters can be overcome? Cheetah housecat?
Isn’t there an ‘oce-cat’ half domestic cat and an ocelot. If that’s possible I don’t see why bobcat and housecat couldn’t interbreed. IANA catbreeder. I have a sister in Texas and she says there’s a real problem with feral cats in her small suburb that seem to be larger and more predatory to small pets ( dogs and cats), She calls them the ‘wildcats’.
We had a man in my neighborhood like 50 years ago who had several bobcats raised from kittens. They grew up in a house with domestic cats and did mate. As far as I know none of the breeding produced kittens. I would think that they should be able to cross as I have seen many examples of felines crossed with wild cats but I have never seen a bobcat cross for some reason.